WASHINGTON - President Obama said Monday that he would unveil a "sensible, common sense" proposal to combat gun violence this week that would include improved background checks, limits on the sale of high-capacity magazines and "an assault weapons ban that is meaningful. " The administration plans to buttress its legislative proposals with executive orders in as many as 19 areas, according to one lawmaker who was present Monday when Vice President Joe Biden briefed House Democrats.

WASHINGTON -- As he began a final series of meetings with stakeholder groups to develop recommendations on gun violence, Vice President Joe Biden signaled Wednesday that one focus may be on measures the Obama administration can take independently of Congress. Biden said the issue of gun violence is one “that requires immediate action,” and the president and he were “determined to take action.” "I want to make clear that we're not going to get caught up in the notion that, unless we can do everything, were going to do nothing,” Biden told reporters before a meeting with gun safety advocates and victims of gun violence.

WASHINGTON - Representatives from Wal-Mart will meet with Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday to discuss gun policy, after initially declining the administration's invitation because of a scheduling conflict. David Tovar, a spokesman for the company, said that although Wal-Mart's leadership has already spoken to Biden's office to offer its perspective, “we underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on Thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate.” Wal-Mart, the nation's largest firearms seller, has "had ongoing conversations with the administration, Congress, [New York]

Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conway is famous for all-caps emails that command the attention of an impressive social circle that includes celebrities, business leaders and politicians. So when Conway sent out an email urging support for an effort to end gun violence in the wake of the school shooting in Connecticut, a notable group of people signed on. On Wednesday, Lady Gaga, Martha Stewart, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams were among those who signed their names in an ad in the New York Times, throwing their weight behind Demand A Plan, the organization of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other mayors who are pushing for greater gun safety.

AURORA, Colo. -- The number of people applying to purchase guns in Colorado jumped after the massacre at a midnight screening of the latest Batman movie here, state figures show. The shootings in the wee hours of Friday morning left 12 people dead and 58 wounded. Later that day, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation approved background checks for 1,216 applicants through the state's online application system, known as InstaCheck, agency spokeswoman Susan Medina said. That was 38% more than the previous Friday.

WASHINGTON - Second Amendment rights to carry firearms are cherished by most gun owners, a new poll finds - no surprise there. But the same poll says a sizable majority of those same gun owners, even members of the National Rifle Assn., also strongly support some gun control measures. The poll, done for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, found that 76% of gun owners think people on the terrorist watch list should be barred from buying guns, and 68% were in favor of measures requiring gun owners to tell police if their guns are lost or stolen.

Energized by the horrific shooting violence in Aurora, Colo., the national debate over gun control has taken on new force but shows few signs that the issue will emerge as a major campaign theme. On news talk shows Sunday, Democrat and Republican lawmakers clashed on the issue, while state and local leaders and police commissioners wondered aloud whether stricter control of firearms could have prevented someone like the alleged gunman, James Holmes, a graduate student in neurosciences, from carrying out the early Friday movie-theater assault that killed a dozen people and injured 58 others.

HOUSTON -- Attorneys for a Houston-area man convicted of murder despite claiming self-defense under Texas' version of a "stand-your-ground" law were expected to present more character witnesses Tuesday as jurors consider his sentence. Raul Rodriguez, 46, was convicted of murder June 13 and faces up to life in prison for the 2010 killing of neighbor Kelly Danaher, 36, an elementary school teacher. Among those expected to testify Tuesday is Rodriguez's wife. Rodriguez, a retired Houston-area firefighter living in Huffman, an unincorporated area 30 miles northeast of Houston, had gone to Danaher's home to complain about the noise coming from a party.

When a 19-year-old sophomore named Colton Tooley opened fire with an assault rifle last fall near the UT Tower at the University of Texas, it seemed to some like a horrible rerun: In 1966, the tower was the site of what was then the worst campus shooting in U.S. history, when a sniper firing from the top of the structure killed 14 people. In some states, this kind of history might lead to government action to protect students from gun violence. But not in Texas. Campuses are currently weapons-free zones in Texas.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Friday rejected a request from Democrats to hold hearings related to gun safety in the aftermath of the shootings in Tucson earlier this month. All 16 Democrats on the committee, which has jurisdiction over firearms laws, sent a letter to Rep. Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who recently took charge of the panel, asking him to convene hearings on the use of high-capacity magazines and improving background checks to prevent the mentally ill from obtaining guns.